A moment in the Life of Tom Riddle
by littlebluespacemoth
Summary: This is just a look into Tom's life at the orphanage. Before he knew that he was a wizard, that is.


**Hey guys! This isn't my usual work, I'm participating in the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition- I'm chaser #3 on the Falmouth Falcons. Anyway, for this story, I had to use the following prompts:**

**-(quote) "People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't." - Christopher Paolini, Eragon**

**-(word count) 1,825**

**-(word) memory**

**-Beater 1's Favorite Character- Tom Riddle**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Harry Potter universe.**

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It was a sunny day at Wool's Orphanage. Everyone was outside playing around on the beach, splashing around in the ocean, having the best time that one could when one was an orphan. Martha was outside with them, telling the younger ones stories. It was a peaceful day for those enjoying the outdoors.

However, there were two boys that had stayed indoors. Tom Riddle was up in the attic; Billy Stubbs was helping Mrs. Coles.

Tom loathed Billy Stubbs. He followed Tom around, always wanting to play with him, always wanting to know what he was doing, and if he could do it too.

It was despicable.

The one thing that Tom hated the most was how Mrs. Cole seemed to think that Stubbs was the perfect example of an angel. Stubbs was far from an angel.

Stubbs was a nasty person. He always returned the things that Tom had taken from the other children and then decided that it was up to him to inflict punishment upon Tom. He would take a sizable portion of Tom's food, or smack Tom with Mrs. Cole's bible, or steal all of the blankets off of Tom's bed in the dead of night leaving Tom to freeze as the harsh sea breeze blew through the nicks and crannies in the walls.

Still, however far Stubbs was from being an angel, Tom was even further. If anything, Tom was the devil.

Tom could do things. Things that normal little boys should not be able to do. He could move things by focusing on them with his mind; he could command animals- especially snakes- by talking to them; he could drive a person insane if he tried hard enough.

He had done it before. He had taken Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop to a cave a little ways up the beach, telling them he wanted to explore, when in reality he had just wanted to test his powers. They had come back to the orphanage, Tom perfectly fine save the two large bruises on his knees from climbing around the cave.

Amy and Dennis were another story. They both had mud in their hair, small cuts and scrapes on their arms and legs, and a look of terror in their eyes that eventually faded except for when they looked at Tom. They had refused to talk to anyone afterwards, and they haven't talked since.

Maybe he had gone a little too far.

Did he feel guilty about it?

No.

If people insisted on annoying him, he would insist on making bad things happen to them with his powers.

The best part was that no one had caught him.

Not until Billy Stubbs.

Tom had been experimenting with his powers using Billy's pet rabbit, Louise, as a test subject. He had already gotten Louise to eat a ball of lint, run three times around the room backwards, and he had even gotten her fur to change from the soft gray that it normally was to a bright forest green and back again.

He had floated Louise up to the rafters by pointing his finger and concentrating and just about to gently bring her down when Billy Stubbs burst into the room.

Naturally Billy looked to where Tom was pointing, and had nearly wet himself when he saw his rabbit hanging from the rafters.

"Is that- is that Louise? What have you done? Why is she up in the rafters?" Stubbs asked, frantic and confused. He looked back at Tom, then back at Louise, then back at Tom. "Mrs. Cole!" he yelled.

Tom didn't think that Mrs. Cole could have possibly heard Stubbs, however, his eyes widened when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs and Mrs. Coles saying, "What is it, Billy?"

Tom released Louise from the spell, making sure that her little feet had a firm gripping on the rafter in which she was hanging from.

Mrs. Cole came up into the attic. "Well?" she asked placing her hands on her hips.

"My- my rabbit," Billy said, pointing up the Louise, "Tom put my rabbit up in the rafters!"

"That's impo-" Mrs. Coles looked up. Her eyes grew wide. "My word, on earth did you get him up there?" she asked Tom, "Never mind that, just get her down!"

"I can't," Tom replied smoothly.

"What do you mean you can't?" demanded Mrs. Coles, "Of course you can, you're the one that put her up there!"

"No I didn't," Tom snapped, "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Don't you use that tone with me, Mr. Riddle. I don't know why or how you did it, but you better get that rabbit down if you want supper tonight."

"I don't know what to tell you, Mrs. Coles. When I say I can't get her down, I can't get her down."

"Right, then. No supper for you tonight. I'll leave you two to sort this out. Tell me when you get that rabbit down," Mrs. Coles said, throwing up her hands as she walked out of the room.

That was one thing Tom liked about Mrs. Coles. She was lazy. If she could get someone else to do her work, she would. Now all Tom had to do was get rid of Stubbs and then he could get Louise down.

"Well?" demanded Stubbs.

"Well what?" asked Tom.

"Are you going to get her down?"

"Are you going to leave?"

"No."

"Then no."

"But you have to get her down!"

"Why is that?"

"Because Mrs. Coles said so!" Tom almost laughed, but Billy anticipated this and added, "Also, don't you want supper tonight?"

"She already said I'm not getting supper anyway. I don't see why I should get your rabbit down from the rafters, especially when I had nothing to do with her getting up there."

"Then how on earth did she get up there?"

"I don't know," Tom scoffed, "Magic?"

Stubbs scowled. "I'm not a child," he said, "I know magic doesn't exist."

Tom smirked. Oh, you poor, naive bastard, he thought, If only you knew.

"So?" asked Stubbs after several minutes of silence had passed.

"So what?"

"Will you get her down?"

"I thought I already told you. I'm not going to get her down, especially when I had nothing to do with her getting up there."

"Well then how did she get up there?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do! You've been up in the attic all day! She was in her cage this morning, but you took her and now she's up in the rafters, and even if you didn't do it, you have to at least know how she got up there!"

"If I did, I would never tell you."

Stubbs scowled. "Get her down," he demanded, clenching his teeth.

"If I do, what do I get out of it?"

Stubbs thought for a moment. "The satisfaction of helping another person?" he offered.

Tom snorted. "Try again."

"Um… I won't take your food anymore."

"And?"

"And… I won't steal your blankets, or hit you with Mrs. Cole's bible," Stubbs muttered.

"And you'll find me a rat."

"I'll… find you a rat?"

Tom nodded, pleased. He figured that he probably wasn't going to be able to use Louise any time soon, so a rat would have to suffice.

"Now," he snapped, "Turn your back."

"Excuse me?"

"Turn around." Tom made a twirling motion with his finger.

"Why?" Stubbs was starting to grow suspicious.

"Because I said so," Tom snapped.

"But-"

"Do you want your rabbit back or not?"

Stubbs sighed, but he turned around, facing the window. Tom sighed. He was starting to grow soft. None the less, he pointed at Louise, concentrated, and slowly began to bring her down, unaware of the fact that Stubbs could see everything in the reflection in the window.

When Louise was safe in Tom's hands, Stubbs turned around, his eyes wide, and his mouth hanging open.

"How on earth did you do that?" he asked, breathless.

Tom grew scared, "Do what?"

"How did you get her to float down like that?"

"Like what?" Tom demanded. He was starting to grow more and more scared.

"It- it was like magic!" Stubbs exclaimed, "You have to show me how you did that!"

"I didn't do anything of the sort!" Tom cried.

"Yes you did! You pointed at her, and you got this weird look on your face, then Louise floated down from the rafters and into your arms!" Stubbs looked a bit crazy, gesturing like mad. He would have looked quite ridiculous if the situation wasn't so dire. However, Tom kept his composure and handed Stubbs his rabbit.

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're going on about," he sniffed as he brushed past Stubbs and down the stairs to his room where he proceeded to kick off his shoes and flop onto his bed.

Tom knew he had nothing to worry about. This memory would eventually fade from both his and Stubbs's mind, he was sure of it.

However, he thought, people have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't.

He turned in his bed. This couldn't possibly end well. He knew it wouldn't. Stubbs would tattle, and Tom would get sent off to a mad house. Mrs. Coles had already threatened to send him to the asylum. She'd already called at least three doctors to take a look at him.

He sighed again. He would just have to make it seem like Stubbs was the crazy one. Make it seem like it was Billy Stubbs that needed to be sent to an asylum. Right. It was Billy Stubbs who needed to see those doctors, not him.

He sat up and began plotting as he put his shoes back on. He knew he could pull this off if he really tried.

Tom walked briskly down to the room that Mrs. Coles used as her office. He wasn't surprised when he found Stubbs already in there, telling an exaggerated tale of what he had witnessed up in the attic.

"He told me to turn around, but I saw it in the window! I saw him do it, Ma'am! He floated Louise down with magic!"

Mrs. Coles blinked and tilted her head, but she smiled none the less. Of course she found it endearing the way Stubbs made up stories.

"Ah, Mr. Riddle," she said when she had seen Tom standing in the doorway, "Thank you for getting Billy's rabbit down. I suppose you can have supper tonight."

Tom nodded. "Of course, Ma'am."

"Why don't you come in and listen to this delightful story that Billy is telling?" she offered.

"It's not a story, Ma'am, that's what happened!"

Mrs. Coles smiled and nodded as she winked at Tom as he sat down. "Of course dear," she said, "Now, why don't you tell me how this ends?"

Stubbs nodded eagerly and resumed his story.

Tom smiled in relief. His secret was safe for now.

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**I hope I did him justice! Anyway, about the whole word count thing, that was a bit tricky. If you copy and paste this into a word document, it will come out as 1,825.**

**Leave a review!**

**~littleblueweirdo**


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